Windfall
by denise1
Summary: Sam has a little windfall. A tag to Desperate Measures. Sam and Jack friendship


Windfall

By

Denise

He held the paper up to the light, his critical eyes scanning for any imperfection, any clue that the document was a forgery. Finding none, he slipped it into the large manila envelope, wearing rubber gloves to guard against any fingerprints. Maybe he was being a little paranoid…then again, paranoia had kept him alive this long. And he'd worked too many hours to have it all fall apart on him now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam hurried out the door, cursing under her breath. She was late, really late. Stupid thunderstorms and power outages. She was due for a briefing in half an hour and it normally took her nearly that long just to get to the mountain, much less through the security checkpoints and changed into her uniform.

Praying for green lights and hoping that the colonel was also running late, she unlocked her car, tossing her briefcase into the passenger seat.

"Major Carter?" Sam turned to see a man in a suit getting out of a car. "Are you Major Samantha Carter?" he asked, walking towards her.

"Yes," she answered cautiously. "Can I help you?"

"Finally. I've been trying to catch up with you for days. I'm Stu Walkers. I'm an attorney."

"Mister Walkers, I'm late and…"

"This will just take a minute," he insisted, walking up to her. He held out a large envelope. "I just need to deliver this." More than a little puzzled, Sam took it.  "And have you sign for it." He held out a clipboard.

"What is it?" She asked cautiously, examining the envelope.

He shrugged. "I have no idea. Last week this was delivered via messenger with strict instructions to deliver it to you and only you. I've been trying to catch up with you ever since." Glancing at her watch, she took the clipboard, signing her name on the line and handing it back to him. "Have a nice day," he said, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah." She got into her car, and tossed the envelope into the passenger seat beside her briefcase. Glancing at her watch again, she made a face and started the vehicle. It was definitely going to be one of those days.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm sorry I'm late…" Sam hurried into the briefing room, stopping short when she saw only three people around the large table.

"Relax, Carter," Jack said, fiddling with his pen. "Hammond's alarm didn't go off either. Briefing's not for another fifteen minutes."

Sam sighed and sat down, setting her stuff on the table. "Thanks for letting me know."

Jack got up and poured a mug of coffee, setting it in front of her. "Nah. It was more fun to take bets on how late you were going to be," he teased.

"Perhaps for some, O'Neill," Teal'c said, adopting an air of long suffering acceptance.

"Ignore him. He's just sore because he lost," Jack said, ignoring Teal'c's glance.

"Is wagering really this common on Earth?" Jonas asked.

"This?" Jack said. "This is nothing. You should see this place during March Madness."

"March Madness?"

Sam ignored her teammates' bantering and pulled the envelope out of her briefcase. Now that she had a few minutes, her curiosity was killing her as to what it was. She broke the sea and pulled out the sheaf of paper, frowning a bit as she read it. "Oh my God," she muttered, leafing through the papers.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Sam?"

"Umm…a lawyer delivered this today, that's one reason I was late. It's a check for a million dollars." She held up the small piece of paper.

"Say what?" Jack demanded.

"From whom would you receive such a bounty?" Teal'c asked.

"Zetatron Industries," she answered.

"Adrian Conrad's company," Jonas supplied.

"Yeah. According to this, they had him declared officially dead and…I was in his will." She handed the copy of the will to Jack and stared at the check in her hands. No matter how she stared at it, the letters didn't change. 'Samantha Carter…One Million Dollars…1,000,000.00'   She counted the zeros twice, squinting to see if any of the commas changed to periods. They didn't.

"For services rendered, I bequeath to Major Samantha Carter…yadda, yadda, the sum of one million dollars," Jack read. "Looks pretty cut and dried to me."

"Yeah but…I can't accept this," she said, holding up the pale blue slip of paper.

"Why the hell not?" Jack said. "I'd say it's the least he could do."

"How much is a million?" Jonas asked, taking the check from her hands.

"This is at least an attempt to make amends for infringing upon your freedom for his own gain," Teal'c said.

"This is…"

"Carter…that son of a bitch snagged you off the street, carted you off to Seattle, kept you a prisoner for a week, and was going to KILL you. He owes you a hell of a lot more than a measly little million dollars," Jack said. He handed the papers back to her. "If you're not sure about it, ask Hammond. But my opinion is, keep it."

"Sorry I'm late, people," Hammond said, walking into the briefing room. Jonas gave her the check back and she carefully shoved the papers into the envelope, turning her attention instead to the mission briefing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack walked into the commissary, taking a quick glance around the room. He frowned at the sight of Carter seated all alone at a table in the corner. He recognized the folder in front of her and sighed. Most people would be enthusiastic about an unexpected windfall. Not her. No, she had to question and pick it to pieces. Hell, that asshole owed her a hell of a lot more than money. Not just for kidnapping her last year, but also for what had happened since.  It was one of his clones that had taken her in Steveston. He'd read the reports and knew that it had only been for a few minutes, but that was too damn long as far as he was concerned.

Snagging a couple pieces of white cake with pink frosting on it, he made his way over to her, setting one of them down on top of her folder. "Colonel. I didn't see you come in."

"Teal'c could have done the Lambada through here and you wouldn't have noticed," he quipped, sitting down. "You still messing with that?" He gestured towards the check. "What'd Hammond say?"

She shrugged. "He said there wouldn't be a problem. There's no conflict of interest or anything…other than the small matter of us knowing that Conrad really isn't dead."

Jack took a bite of the cake. "It's been a year. You really think even if they get the snake out of him, the NID will just let him go? For all intents and purposes he IS dead." She took a bite of the cake. "So…what are you going to do with it?"

"Sir?" she asked, licking the frosting off the fork.

"Come on, you got a small fortune sitting there. You can't tell me you're just going to…stick it in the bank."

She flushed and looked down. "Well…there are taxes and all that…"

"Which still leaves you about seventy percent. You could buy a house," he suggested.

"I have a house."

"Jewelry? Yeah," he said, shaking his head at her look. "Go for a trip, see the world."

"I've seen the world, and I visit other planets on a weekly basis."

"So you're not going to spend any of it? Just…save it up for your old age."

"No…I…"

"What?"

She hedged a bit, then pulled out the check and looked at it. "I've…never had a new car."

"Excuse me?"

"You know how it is…you move from base to base. A car is one less thing to worry about getting shipped when you get reassigned. I've usually just used my bike or leased a car."

He leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest. "So you're going to go out and buy a car."

"Well, it is sorta silly but…"

"Hell, no it's not silly. Life is too short. You want a car, go buy one. What are you gonna get? Ferrari? Lamborghini? Porsche? I can see it now, hugging the curves in a candy apple red convertible. Wind in your hair, bugs in your teeth…"

"Actually, sir. I was thinking about a Volvo," she interrupted.

"A…Volvo? You already have a Volvo."

"I like Volvos."

Jack shrugged and took a bite of the cake. "Ok. So what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Sir?"

"If you want, I have a friend. He's into all that banking mumbo jumbo. We could make sure that check clears and go car shopping," he offered.

Sam frowned. "You're actually offering to spend most of your day off checking out car lots?" she asked.

Jack shrugged. "Why not? I got nothing better to do."

She smiled and shrugged. "Ok. That would be great. Thanks," she accepted, taking another bite of the cake.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry Maybourne took a bite of his hot dog and watched the pair across the street. Jack had just ushered Carter across the lot and opened the door to a silver Volvo, gesturing towards the sunroof. He watched her shake her head, then get in, sitting in the driver's seat. Jack got in the other side and soon Harry could hear the strains of a local rock station floating over the traffic.

Feeling a bit of a weight leave his soul, he turned, tossing the wrapper to his hot dog into a convenient trashcan. So easy. It had been so incredibly easy. Give these people alien tech, and they'll question it until they're blue in the face. Send them a check and it's no questions asked.

Glancing at his watch, he picked up the pace. He had an appointment with a potential employer and his plane was due to leave in a couple of hours. Every time he left his island getaway, he knew he flirted with capture, but there were some things that he just had to do himself. Things too important to pawn off on some lackey.

He knew some would say he was taking the easy way out. Buying a little redemption for a nearly fatal mistake. Maybe he was. Or maybe he realized one truth that they didn't. Money may not buy redemption, but it sure made it easier to sleep at night.

Fin


End file.
